'Mamma Mia,' 'Harry Potter' actress Julie Walters reveals battle with stage 3 bowel cancer

Actress Julie Walters is revealing she was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer just weeks before she was supposed to attend the 2018 premiere of "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again."

In a BBC interview released Thursday, Walters, 69, said the cancer news had previously been a secret "in terms of the press," but that she's been open to those close to her and those in the business that cancer was the reason she had been slowing down her workload.

"My agent had said, 'We're not going to tell anyone, that's up to you. We have said you've had a ruptured hernia,'" she recalled. "Because I didn't want to go to the 'Mamma Mia' premiere, I'd just come out of – you know, it was just a few weeks later and I just thought, 'Oh God, I'm going to have to lie to everyone.'"

Walters recalled the emotional moment she got into the car with husband Grant Roffey after her doctor's appointment.

"I'll never forget his face," she said of the moment after she revealed the diagnosis. "And the tears came into his eyes and I thought, 'Oh, Grant!' So then I'm worried about him more than (the news)."

Presently, Walters said she's doing "really well," as far as she knows. After going through chemotherapy, her most recent scan came back clear. And since the diagnosis, she's been focusing on the positive side: Her doctor said they could "fix this."

Walters, who has been acting since 1975 and is known for memorable roles as Rosie in "Mamma Mia," Molly Weasley in "Harry Potter" and Mrs. Wilkinson in "Billy Elliot," is set to appear in a film adaptation of the novel "The Secret Garden" this spring. She said it's "possible" that role could be her last.

"But, you know, something might come up," she said. "It would have to be something I really engaged with and that didn't have a killing schedule. I'm not saying I'll never act again, but I don't think I can go back to – certainly not six days a week, five days a week; five in the morning until seven o'clock at night; with a big part, with having to learn lines and the stress of it."

'I'll dig deep': Shannen Doherty talks 'stress,' struggles after stage 4 cancer announcement

The actress urged those who struggled with similar ailments to see a doctor, even if they're embarrassed about the personal nature of bowel cancer.

"It's part of your – your bowel is part of your digestive system. It's just what digests your food and I think you just have to remember that. And it's just, you've got to go and get things checked. Doctors are used to bottoms: They've got one themselves, hopefully," she joked.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Harry Potter's Julie Walters reveals stage 3 bowel cancer diagnosis